FCC

WASHINGTON, DC—Today, Rep. Doris Matsui and Sen. Patrick Leahy introduced a bill called the Online Competition and Consumer Choice Act, which calls upon the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to take any action required to prevent Internet Service Providers like Comcast, Verizon and AT&T from picking winners and losers in an online free market. read more

WASHINGTON, DC—Today, Rep. Doris Matsui and Sen. Patrick Leahy introduced a bill called the Online Competition and Consumer Choice Act, which calls upon the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to take any action required to prevent Internet Service Providers like Comcast, Verizon and AT&T from picking winners and losers in an online free market.

The FCC is currently accepting public comments in its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on “net neutrality.” The current proposal has received tremendous criticism for what many see as the enactment of a “two-tiered” Internet, in which companies with deep pockets receive priority access to subscribers, while creators and other entrepreneurs are relegated to the slow lane. read more

In the wake of the FCC’s vote last Thursday to bring forward a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology convened yesterday to question FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler on recent FCC activities, with an emphasis on the ongoing debate over net neutrality. read more

The FCC by stepped bipartisan opposition as well as the music community. Last month, Eddie Vedder, Michael Stipe, and Tom Morello joined many other artists in signing an open letter to the commission protesting the change. But protests by musical advocacy groups such as the Future of Music Coalition and Free Press have been applied in vain.

The statement, “The next 120 days are going to be big,” tweeted by the Future of Music Coalition portends an ongoing fight against e-stratification.

THIS week, it seems, has brought us closer to the end of net neutrality, with the FCC getting closer to approving a pay-to-play “fast lane.” The fear among purveyors and enthusiasts of indie culture is that there will be a tiered Internet, one for wealthy corporations and a slow one for the rest. Enormous power would go to broadband companies.

It’s still unclear where this is all going, but one important group — Future of Music Coalition — has released a letter to the FCC chair urging a return to the open Internet and arguing that “the FCC is now proposing rules that would kill — rather than protect — Net Neutrality and allow rampant discrimination online.” The letter continues: read more

The Federal Communications Commission met earlier today to discuss a plan that could change the Internet experience as we all know and love it. Commissioners voted by a three-two margin to move the proposal forward and their decision has been hotly anticipated, as critics say it could challenge the open Internet experience and belittle net neutrality. Net neutrality is the concept that says Internet providers shouldn’t be able to restrict how everyone uses the service.

Today, the<Federal Communications Commissionvoted to bring forward a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking onnet neutrality—a process meant to preserve an open and accessible Internet.FCCCommissioners voted 3-2 in favor of opening a 120-day comment period in which the public is invited to weigh in on the proposed rules.

The proposal, which had been previously amended in the face of unprecedented response from creators and the public, asks questions about the best way to prevent Internet Service Providers from picking winners and losers online.

It was all going so, so well for American ISPs. Not only did they have a former cable lobbyist as head of the Federal Communications Commission, but he was even planning to push through a new proposal that would have given them the power to create separate Internet fast lanes where they could charge more to Internet companies to ensure their traffic got delivered faster. And to top it all off, many of them were planning to engage in a huge wave of mergers that would give them even more power over the broadband and/or pay TV markets, from Comcast-Time Warner Cable to Sprint-T-Mobile to AT&T-DirecTV. read more

WASHINGTON, DC—On Monday, May 12, 2014, dozens of creators came together on a letterto Tom Wheeler, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, urging the agency to do more to prevent discrimination against lawful content by Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Wheeler’s current proposal—to be considered by the Commission at a meeting on Thursday, May 15—reportedly allows for a “fast lane” that would disadvantage creators, innovators and entrepreneurs who depend on a level online playing field.

“The open Internet’s impact on the creative community cannot be overstated,” reads the letter, which was signed by Eddie Vedder, Neko Case, Roger Waters, Michael Stipe, Erin McKeown, Joe Perry, Tom Morello, OK Go, Fugazi, Ozomatli, David Loweryof Cracker/Camper Van Beethoven, Jeff Mangum & Astra Taylor of Neutral Milk Hotel, Fred Armisen, Mark Ruffalo, Evangeline Lilly and Oliver Stone, among others. “The Internet has enabled artists to connect directly with each other and with audiences. It has eliminated the barriers of geography and taken collaborations to new levels. And it has allowed people—not corporations—to seek out the film, music and art that moves them.”